Every year, we "smowies" eagerly await the Milan Furniture Fair – but the anticipation begins long before the first installation. Almost more exciting than the fair itself is the question: who gets to go to Milan this year?
Between hope, speculation and the welcome news, the tension builds – and with the decision in hand, the anticipation for Milan as a place of longing, as the beating heart of the international design scene, grows immeasurably.
For a few days, the city becomes a feast for the senses: brimming with creativity, surprising installations and inspiring places – from the exhibition halls to the design districts of Brera and Porta Venezia. Milan Design Week is more than just a fair. It begins long before it starts.
Of course, in 2026 we’ll once again have our very own personal hotspots in Milan – places that make our hearts race even as we’re planning the trip. And we won’t miss a thing.
Anyone looking for us will find us sooner or later at Bar Basso. And in between? An ice cream in a charming piazza is simply a must – a little bit of la dolce vita is essential.
Even though you read it time and time again: there is no such thing as THE ONE guide – but there is ours. From 20 years of Milan Design Week, we know pretty much exactly which places are must-sees – and where you’re almost certain to bump into us.
Together with Deoron, Objekte unserer Tage is heading to Via Padova 11 – right in the heart of Milan’s lively Porta Venezia district, which once again proves itself to be an exciting hotspot for new perspectives and progressive design during Design Week. The combination of a Berlin-based design approach and an international context promises a presentation that deliberately plays with visual habits and perhaps even reimagines spaces – we don’t know exactly what to expect, but we’re extremely curious!
> Via Padova 11, Porta Venezia
In Porta Venezia Design District, Vanity Fair Italia is presenting a special contribution to Design Week in collaboration with Archivio Italia. The exhibition “Insieme”, curated by Sabato De Sarno, is complemented by a project by the artist JR (Inside Out Project). The historic swimming pool thus becomes a space where fashion, art and social issues converge and engage in dialogue with one another in a simple yet striking way.
We loved the Gucci exhibition “Design Ancora” by Sabato De Sarno in 2024: at the Gucci boutique at Via Montenapoleone 7, he presented five Italian design icons in a particularly well-curated way. We are all the more excited to see what he will now be showing in collaboration with Vanity Fair. Definitely a potential highlight!
> Porta Venezia Design District - Piscina Cozzi, viale Tunisia 35
Richard Lampert is bringing back a true icon: the Z.Chair, which will be showcased at Design Republic during Design Week. A classic that, thanks to its clean, graphic design, has lost none of its impact to this day and is now back in the spotlight. The exhibition promises an exciting reunion with a piece of design history – timeless, striking and surprisingly relevant today.
> Piazza del Tricolore 2
At Camparino in the Galleria on Piazza del Duomo, JW Anderson and Mytheresa come together under the motto: “Fashion and Design Week at their most charged and elegant intersection”. A setting that brings fashion and design together in one of Milan’s most iconic locations.
Jonathan Anderson is one of the most exciting figures in the current fashion world and, perhaps for that reason, also at Milan Design Week: Since mid-2025, he has been Creative Director at Dior, where he is shaping the future of the house. At the same time, he remains loyal to his own brand, JW Anderson, which he founded in 2008 and which continues to operate as an independent, experimental label. It is precisely this balancing act that makes him so interesting – between a major luxury brand and his own label, which often remains more accessible, playful and closer to everyday life.
> Piazza del Duomo, Camparino in Galleria
This year, Carl Hansen & Søn is represented at two venues in Milan, dedicating its entire focus to Hans J. Wegner under the theme ‘Wegner goes Milan’. The exhibition explores the question of how the Danish designer might live in Milan today: the spaces he would inhabit, the materials that would surround him, and perhaps even the music he would listen to – somewhere between Scandinavian clarity and Italian lightness.
The presentation invites visitors not only to view Wegner’s designs as design classics, but to place them in a new, imaginary context – personal, accessible and surprisingly contemporary.
> Via Solferino 11, 3rd Floor und Via Mercato 3
At the Fondazione Luigi Rovati, USM and Snøhetta are presenting ‘Renaissance of the Real’, an exhibition that explores materiality, space and timeless modularity. The historic setting meets USM’s streamlined system – creating a fascinating contrast between classical architecture and modern design.
> Corso Venezia 52
On Via San Marco, a second USM exhibition is taking shape: *Wonderland of the Monsters*, this time in collaboration with the artist Kasing Lung – known to many for his *Labubu* figures, which tend to divide opinion: people either love them or can’t quite relate to them. It is precisely this mix of irritation and fascination that the exhibition explores, translating it into a playful, colourful spatial world that bridges the gap between design and pop culture.
> Via San Marco 26
At the Jil Sander showroom, the brand is presenting the ‘Reference Library’ exhibition in collaboration with Apartamento. The focus is on reading as a cultural and personal experience: sixty books, selected by designers, artists and thinkers, come together to form a collective picture of influences, memories and inspiration.
The installation, designed by studioutte, focuses less on individual titles and more on the ideas behind them. Unlike last year, in 2026 the Jil Sander brand is clearly at the centre – as a curated, conceptual space. We are very much looking forward to this – after all, it was a special honour to experience the icon Jil Sander in person last year in collaboration with Thonet.
> Via Luca Beltrami 5
For Milan Design Week 2026, Muuto is presenting the Milan Apartment as a lived-in, atmospheric living space. The space unfolds as a sequence of functional rooms, each themed around The Art of… – familiar everyday functions are translated into a calm, clear design and told through atmosphere and use over time.
> Via Solferino 11
With CASA NM3, NM3 presents a modular living installation that utilises abstract spatial structures and movable walls. Inspired by Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich’s Velvet and Silk Café, the result is a flexible, open spatial framework that can be constantly reconfigured.
At its heart lies a deliberately minimalist, adaptable approach to living – spaces are not rigidly defined, but emerge through use, perspective and movement. The concept is complemented by The Meanwhile Club, a temporary, evolving space made from reused materials, dedicated to the idea of ‘delayed time’ and urban interim use.
> NM3 Showroom, Via Carlo Farini 93
In the heart of Milan, at the historic Pasticceria Cucchi, Marni x Cucchi is creating an immersive café experience that celebrates typical Milanese daily rituals – from a morning cappuccino and an espresso at the bar to an evening aperitivo. Over a period of three months, one of the city’s most iconic social venues is being reinterpreted, blending the codes of Marni and Cucchi into a distinctive aesthetic, designed by RedDuo Studio.
> Corso Genova 1
For the Bottega Veneta Summer 2026 show, 6:AM has created an installation comprising Murano-blown glass cubes in ten colours, which serve as seating for guests and combine sculpture with functionality.
Under the title OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER, the concept is being continued at the Piscina Guido Romano as part of Milan Design Week 2026: glass stools form a seating landscape here, creating a deliberate contrast between fragility and utility – a consciously minimalist, almost radical departure from earlier, playful seating and object designs. We found Zanotta’s 2024 beanbags in comic-style animal shapes extremely amusing – just like Le Corbusier’s LC 14 stools, piled high in 2025, which served both as seating and sculptural forms – and are now all the more excited about the solid glass stools.
> Piscina Guido Romano, Via Ampère 24
At the Chiostri di San Simpliciano, Gucci is presenting ‘Memoria’, an installation curated by Demna. A historic Milanese venue meets a clearly curated, almost minimalist display that places the brand’s codes in a new context.
Demna, Gucci, Milan – that’s really all we need to say.
> Chiostri di San Simpliciano, Piazza Paolo VI 6
At Ordet, Apartamento is presenting the exhibition ‘Silhouettes’ in collaboration with Muller Van Severen, celebrating the design studio’s 15th anniversary. The exhibition centres on 15 unique, life-size aluminium candleholders, which appear as sculptural figures within the space and bring to life the duo’s characteristic interplay of form and lightness.
The presentation is complemented by the Apartamento Bookshop, featuring a curated selection of titles, as well as the new monograph A Lot of Work, dedicated to the work of Muller Van Severen and launched directly in the exhibition space.
> Via Filippino Lippi 4
At the FLOS flagship store at Corso Monforte 9, Erwan Bouroullec is showcasing a new collaboration with FLOS as part of Milan Design Week 2026. The focus is on an atmospheric presentation that treats light not merely as a functional element, but as a spatial, almost sculptural one – typical of Bouroullec’s subtle, poetic approach to design.
> Corso Monforte 9, 20121
A classic in the Brera Design District: Hermès will once again be showcasing its home collection at La Pelota on Via Palermo in 2026. For us, this event has long been a highlight of Design Week – fresh every year, surprising every year, and a must-see every year.
As in previous years, we don’t yet know the full details of what to expect – but we have complete faith in Hermès. Or as Valerie Präkelt from AD so aptly put it: “The Collections for the Home is an exhibition I never miss. It’s always at La Pelota in Via Palermo… I’m not entirely sure what they’re showing this year – but I trust them nonetheless, and so should you.”
> La Pelota, Via Palermo, Milano
At the Triennale Milano, Kettal and the Eames Office are presenting the exhibition *The Eames House Exhibition*. The focus is on the iconic Eames House as an architectural study – examined through its structure, materials and the way of living that continues to define it to this day.
The exhibition is complemented by the new Eames Pavilion System, which takes up the structural logic of the house and translates it into a flexible, modular architecture. The result is a contemporary reinterpretation of one of the most significant residential experiments of the 20th century.
> Triennale Milano, Viale Emilio Alemagna 6
On the 25th floor of the Torre Velasca, one of the world’s most iconic and at the same time most controversial brutalist buildings, a temporary space for tea – and for a special moment in the city – will emerge during Milan Design Week 2026. For the first time, CROMO installs a nomadic teahouse on the rooftop and in the penthouse of the tower, launching a series of pop-up tea rooms that will continue throughout the year.
The installation also marks the launch of a new tea brand and is supported by Madison House, a private members club that will take over Torre Velasca as its permanent home from late 2026 onwards. A unique view over Milan meets a new ritual between architecture, calm, and social space – high above the city.
> Piazza Velasca 3/5
